City of the Damned
by OhSoOriginal
Summary: Gotham has been virtually cut off from the rest of the world after its citizens (the 'innocent') were evacuated, and inside chaos reigns. Death row prisoners are transferred once every six months by way of ferries to "live" in the crumbling ruins of the Jokers "kingdom". Rated M for horror, gore, sex and language.
1. Prologue

Pain. That was the only thought in her head right now, how much damn pain she was in. It was as if her entire being was comprised of brutal, searing, pain. She could be floating in space or crushed underneath a slab of cement for all she knew; all that registered in her brain was the unyielding agony that was ripping through her. But then...if the pain was all she knew she wouldn't be thinking about it-right? There was a thought process going on here and that told her that she did, in fact, exist. A whimper escaped broken lips and the burning in her dry throat had her holding back another. _What was going on here? Come on woman, think! _Alexa held back yet another groan as she strained to remember something-anything. Gotham. Just the name of the city sent incoherent memories, _or maybe visions from her addled imagination?,_ flashing through her mind.

She remembered the ferries. The dank almost desperate stench that permeated the very walls there. There had been screaming, sobbing, even some laughter that had ricocheted around the entire vessel eerily. Her eyes shot open of their own volition and despite herself she let out a strangled gasp. No! No, no, no! It wasn't possible...it couldn't be. She refused to believe it. However, doubt was beginning to seep in the cracks of her resolve. Judging by the dark, signature skyline, the crumbling rubble, and the screams coupled with explosions and gunshots, Alex was beginning understand that she was now inside the very nightmare itself- Gotham City.

**A/N- Yes, I know, I'm evil! I hope this little teaser catches your eye and intrigues you! The rest of the chapters will be MUCH longer and the official chapter one is already in the works, however...review! I would love to know what you all think! The premise of the story is Gotham being reigned (for the most part) by the Joker after the US government decides that they cannot beat him. Instead, it's decided to retreat and let him have his forsaken city, only traveling there once every six months to deposit the "undesirables" of the country and leave basic necessities. Of course for the purposes of this story this includes ammo and things to make explosives with ;). The Joker has no desire to leave because in his view Gotham is his right, his city. My o/c Alexa (Alex) is too curious for her own good and ends up on the castaway, if you will, island of Gotham, trying desperately to survive. The link to the map I used can be found on my profile.**


	2. City of the Damned Chapter 1

**A/N~ Quick heartfelt shoutout to Valkyrie69, Just Somebody, and highlander348 for reviewing and the amazing compliments! Please take the time to read the A/N at the bottom (it might help answer your question highlander348)! Thank you!**

. . .

It seemed like an eternity had passed and Alex was no closer to figuring out the condemned city of Gotham. In reality it had only been twenty-four measly little hours but she was sure that surviving an entire day here and not being a criminal had to mean that she was a badass of some sort. Well, maybe not really. In fact, she had barely survived the first hour after she had finally convinced herself to stand. And that had been due in large part to a man she had named Gunther.

**_~flashback~_**

She hurt, her lungs were burning, and she was fairly sure that she was much closer to giving up than the gaggle of men chasing her. As she rounded yet another corner into yet another alleyway Alexa found herself yanked roughly past a small rusty iron door and thrown to the floor. Before she could so much as utter a squeak a small but surprisingly heavy man had pounced on her, placing his hands roughly over her mouth. They stayed on the floor listening as the men outside began to shout-they had lost her. The man on top of her curled his lip in anger as he glared at her. Just as quickly as he had jumped on her his brows creased in confusion and he rolled off, springing to his feet.

"Ya ain't got any weapons have ya." He grunted in her direction. It was less of a question and more of an irking observation on his part.

Alex's eyebrows shot up in surprise; bad grammar and slang aside he seemed to be fairly well spoken. It was almost as if he was putting in quite a bit of effort to talk the way that he was. These thoughts flew in and out of her mind so fast she barely registered them as she managed to stutter out a reply, shaking her head. "N-no. No."

He shook his head in seeming disgust. "Drop off was near three hours ago. How the hell you manage this long?"

This long?! Was he serious? What was the life expectancy here; thirty minutes? She opened her mouth to say as much but an undignified "Uhhmm." was all that managed to push past her lips.

The man gave a strangled sigh and looked up at the ceiling as if asking 'why me?' "They leave them crates for a reason kid. Didn't 'cha even try to get in 'em?"

Alexa's tongue suddenly felt like strings had been cut and she began to ramble, spewing forth nonsense and what had happened-although it soon became clear that what she had done was nonsense. "I-I'm not supposed to be here." She whimpered. Without acknowledging his questioning glance she continued. "I was curious. I just wanted to see, you know? But I got caught." She hiccoughed a bitter laugh. "Penalty for sneaking on board a prisoner transport is becoming a prisoner, did you know?" It was a rhetoric question; no one had ever been dumb enough to actually try and get to Gotham on purpose. Hell, even the prisoners that were sentenced here tried to get good behavior to escape their fate. Some even 'opted out'.

He sighed heavily, he didn't need to say anything to acknowledge her stupidity; she knew she had been an idiot. "What's done is done, ain't no goin' back now." He turned to lift a small bag she hadn't noticed onto a rickety bench that could barely be called a table and began sifting through it. "Nah, liable to shoot herself." He muttered to himself shoving aside several small handguns and miscellaneous ammo. "Here." He said gruffly, shoving a small folded knife in her direction.

"Thank you." She said quietly staring down in slight confusion at the knife that looked oddly out of place in her hands.

Minutes later she had quick instructions on a few do's and don'ts of Gotham courtesy of the man.

"Listen up girl, ya have yourself in one shitty situation, ain't no way around it. If I see you around and you need help you're only gonna get it if my neck ain't on the line; this here was a one time fluke." He grunted looking her straight in her eyes, as if desperate to make her understand. "Got some rules, you could call 'em... Only gonna say 'em once so ya best remember."

"Number one: You're a girl. That pretty much fucks ya up from day one. Ain't no manipulatin' no one with your snatch in here."

Her mouth dropped open in indignation but before she could voice her annoyance he had moved on.

"Number two: You have a fight or flight instinct- only fight if you can win, only run if you can get away, if you're not sure you can accomplish either you're probably screwed. (That made her feel fantastic of course.)

Number three: Things here tend to explode, get shot, stabbed, clubbed, maimed, dismembered; ya get the idea. Try not to be one of those things and try to stay away from the things that are. (She supposed that should have been in the "well, duh" category.)

Number four: Ain't no one trustworthy here, not even me. Don't go makin' the mistake of gettin' too comfortable with anyone; they will sell ya out the first second it benefits them."

He stood and grabbed his bag, slung it on his shoulder and looked back to give her a small lopsided smile as he reached for the doorknob. "Good luck kid, ya sure as hell gonna need it."

Alex scrambled to her feet in an almost panic. She had felt a small sense of security with this man and now he was leaving her! She didn't even know his name! "Wait! Don't..." She stuttered, desperately searching for something less pathetic to say than 'don't leave me'. "Don't you live here?" She came up with lamely, wincing at the ludicrousness of the question.

The man shook his head, in pity or disgust she couldn't tell. "Did'ja listen to a damn word? Buildings tend to blow up. Only safe buildings are the bosses an' let me tell ya, they ain't exactly safe."

She tried once more. "Whats your name?"

"You just don't quit do ya? Don't matter; odds are against us seein' each other again anyhow...alive that is." And with that the man slid out the door and disappeared within moments.

**_~ present time~_**

Alex gave a muffled scream when, for the second time since coming to this cursed place, a rough hand clamped over her mouth. Unfortunately for her it wasn't Gunther. A quick glimpse of some nondescript man out of the corner of her eye was all she got before the world went black.

Looking back (all the way to yesterday), she had to realize just how ridiculous she had come across to a presumably hardened criminal like "Gunther". Of course right now it didn't matter. Of all the ways she had ever pictured dying (not that there were that many), this wasn't one of them. She gave another useless yank at the chains bolted into the floor, cursing as the handcuffs on her end bit into the skin on her wrists. This was pointless. When Gunther had been giving her his little rules for the city she had thought most of them seemed obvious...dear god was she dumb. It wasn't as though she could be counted a badass when not a few hours after parting ways she had been snatched up by some low-level wanna be boss. She wasn't even sure being chained to a floor and having the crap beaten out of her could be counted as surviving either. They had even searched her and taken away her knife. She didn't know much about using it but she did miss the slight security it had provided and it had been somewhat sentimental. A gift from the first and only nice person in Gotham. The sound of a mans heavy footfalls caught her attention and she tensed waiting for the moment he would come into view.

As she hung her head what used to be a sharp navy suit and expensive black dress shoes came to stop in front of her. "Have you given any thought to our...conversation?" The man questioned.

Alex snorted despite herself. "I would count that more of a monologue." She mumbled immediately wishing she had kept her mouth shut as her head snapped to one side violently.

The mans face came into view blearily and her eyes attempted to focus on his face. It apparently didn't matter to her spinning visage or ringing ears that she didn't want to look at his face, she found her head seemingly locked into a pathetic attempt to stare him down. She found clarity on the stuck position of her head as the man violently shoved her face out of his fingers. She could suddenly feel the imprints of his fingers on her sore jaw.

"THOSE CRATES DIDN'T JUST DISAPPEAR!" The man thundered although she was unsure whether he was addressing her or talking to himself. "YOU are the only new arrival un-accounted for! You know something!"

It seemed his desperation to find out where the crates were clouded his need for her intact; after all if he believed that she knew where they were she assumed he would need her alive to find them. As he placed a hard kick to her side Alex slumped over, barely daring to breathe. Maybe if he thought she had died he'd simply throw her body back out onto the streets. She could dare to hope after all. Fantastic, it seemed her brains sense of sarcasm was intact even if the rest of her body wasn't.

"I'd advise you to think a little harder girl." The man hissed into her ear. "Next time you won't be left with a heart to beat-you feel me?"

She assumed he was disgusted with her weakness as he spat towards her and stalked off. When it seemed that at least an hour had passed she slowly sat herself up as much as she could, biting her lips together so as not to let out a sound.

She sighed heavily, attempting to blow a few random strands of hair that had escaped her pathetic ponytail out of her face. Nothing. She narrowed her eyes at the offending strand; of all the things not going her way lately this piece of hair was for some undefinable reason pissing her off the most. She had almost given up caring that she didn't have any information that these men wanted. Almost didn't care that she was sure to be un-missed back on the mainland. In fact there seemed to be a plethora of things she just really couldn't give a flying rats ass about. But that chunk of hair, brushing her lips and tickling her nose was doing funny things to her brain.

The sharp click of a mans shoes rang in her ears. The clicking and heavy footfalls of course belonging to the man whom she was beginning to recognize as 'the boss'. She supposed if she was going to die now she'd rather not be a sniveling pathetic baby. Now, _of course_ she didn't want to die and _of course_ she was terrified, but she'd always had a fairly analytical mind and right now it was coming to the forefront. There wasn't a chance she could give him information that she didn't have and she was almost one-hundred percent certain he wouldn't hesitate to kill her. So, if she was going to die here chained to a dirty floor she was damn well going to have her say.

"Any new thoughts?" The man asked as he brought out a surprisingly shiny gun.

Apparently they couldn't manage to keep their clothes clean here (although maybe that was because they were mostly men and had no idea how to use a washer?) but they could keep a gun so shiny you could do your makeup in it. Her musings were cut short as the butt of the gun slammed into the side of her head in a rather effective pistol whip. She grinned and shook her head as blood fell onto her eyelashes from the nice slice the pistol had given her.

"Pity." He spoke without a modicum of said emotion as he cocked the gun and aimed it at her head.

"BOSS!" A man that looked like he had been handsome at one time scrambled into the room shaking as he looked between her and the boss. "You're gonna wanna hear this."

The boss rolled his eyes and sighed. "Did I not say that I wasn't to be interrupted?" He scowled and spun to face the henchman with the gun whose eyes widened in fear.

"Boss! It's the Joker!" He rushed out in a stutter.

The boss started to lower his gun and snarled. "Where."

Before he had a chance to answer a gunshot rang throughout the room and the henchman toppled over face first into his own blood and brain matter. Any other day in any other place Alex was sure that she would be screaming bloody murder at witnessing a man shot and killed in front of her, but today, with numerous blows to her head and various body parts, she snorted out a loud laugh as the boss looked confusedly at his gun. He was obviously wondering if he had shot the man.

"Welllll! It, uhh, sounds like a party in here!" The bosses head shot up away from his gun and his face paled as a man in a purple suit and clown makeup stepped in the door, deliberately placing his feet in the deceased mans 'mess'. "Mind if I join?"

The boss seemed to regain composure and went on the offensive. "What do you want Joker?"

So, _this_ was the infamous Joker. Alex had never really thought that a man dressed as a clown could possibly be scary but, as seemed to be the norm since coming here, she was dead wrong. His stringy green tinted hair stuck to random spots in his makeup streaking it in a grayish white and the red on his renowned scarred smile had faded into a runny pink on the very edges. This man reeked of death and danger, although she supposed the two were synonymous when it came to him.

The Joker cackled loudly as he clapped his hands together. "Me? It's not about what," he paused to smack his lips loudly and his tongue snaked out to lick his scars. "_I_ wan't Sandoval..." He grinned widely as if waiting for the boss to comprehend.

The man apparently known as Sandoval ground his teeth audibly. "I don't have time for your games Joker; I'm a little busy here." He snarled gesturing to her with his gun.

The Joker glanced over to her as if seeing her there for the first time. "So _this_ is the giggler!" He squealed almost delightedly as he sauntered up to her paying no mind to Sandoval or his gun. "What's uhh, what's you're name doll?" He snickered as he brought out two small knives and began almost idly twirling them in his hands.

He gave a mock pout as she glared at him. She had heard of this man, he was the reason Gotham had been given up in the first place. He was no rescuer, he had no mercy, and he certainly wasn't going to help her. Her previous creed stood and echoed in her head; if she was going to die she wasn't about to be pathetic. Faster than she could blink one of his knives was slowly cutting deeper into the cut above her eye as he held her still with his knee in her back and a fist in her hair.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?!" Alexa shouted as the knife seemed to bring more pain into clarity.

"Wrong answer!" He laughed in a sing-song voice and continued digging the knife along the cut. "Ya know, I'm running out of open cut to work with here. Might need to make some of my own..."

"Alexa! Alexa dammit!" She all but yelled. Dignity be damned, he was planning on making that last forever.

"She speaks! Ya know, _Ah-lex-ah_, it's... _rude_ t-"

It seemed Sandoval had snapped out of whatever trance he was in. "What are you doing! She's not your prisoner!" He cried in indignation.

As soon as Sandoval had interrupted the Joker she had watched the playful, if maniacal, light dim in his eyes as they narrowed menacingly. He stood and turned to address Sandoval. "No wonder your...prisoner ...is so rude-She's learning by example!"

Although he still laughed it seemed to have a harder edge to it and she ridiculously thought she was glad he hadn't been mad at her. Alex shook her head trying to clear it of that inane notion; he had been cutting her with a knife- there was nothing to be grateful for about that. And she was fairly sure he was comparing her to a dog...or a child- learning by example indeed.

"Why are you here?" Sandoval managed with a surprising amount of bravado. "I've got a girl to kill and crates to find. I don't have time for this nonsense."

Joker clapped his hands together gleefully. "See! _Now_ you're catching on!-"

"Joker-"

"Nuh uh uh Sandoval, interrupting is _rude_. Might cause people to question your upbringing." Joker giggled insanely as if he had just made a joke which, she supposed, he had. "Now, about the crates..."

It seemed to click in Sandoval's mind even though it hadn't for Alex. "What do you want for them Joker?" He sighed heavily.

The Joker started to giggle and then suddenly his high pitched giggle turned to peals of laughter that echoed and reverberated off of the walls. He was so caught up in his laughter that he didn't see Sandoval smirk and throw a hard punch at his jaw knocking him to the floor.

In all honesty Alexa couldn't care less about the giggling psycho or the serious one for that matter. From the moment that the Joker had been punched onto his back all she saw was the knife-one of the small knives that he had used to deepen the slice above her eye had fallen to the ground. Not that a knife was going to do much good against a gun...but if she could get the gun she could shoot the chains. That always worked in the movies right? She quickly snatched it up, her mind whirring, trying to work out how she was going to manage this.

It seemed that luck was finally with her while she watched the two men grapple about. The Joker didn't seem too concerned with dodging Sandoval's poor attempts at hitting him (she supposed that the first hit was a lucky one) and Sandoval just seemed desperate. And then there it was; the flash of a gun inside Sandoval's suit jacket! Another miracle came in the form of the ridiculous fight landing Sandoval right in front of her. Not giving herself time to think or chicken out Alex latched an arm around his throat and held the knife to it.

"Gun. Now." She managed in a barely stable voice.

"Oooh!" The Joker giggled and clapped (something that on the frayed edges of her brain was beginning to annoy her). "_I'd_ listen to her! She looks _serious_."

She passed over the Joker with a barely discernible glare; she was well aware that even if she did make it out of the cuffs and had a gun in hand he could kill her in a heartbeat... but still... she _had_ to at least try.

Sandoval weakly palmed the gun over to her still shaking from his 'fight'. "You won't make it out of here."

It was amazing how self assured he was when he had just gotten his butt handed to him. "Shut up." She snapped as she shoved him away from her, sadistically enjoying it when he stumbled and fell. As soon as he was out of her grip she fumbled with the gun, aiming it at the lock on her wrists and squeezing her eyes tightly, she pulled the trigger.

*click*

Sandoval snorted and the Joker sighed. "That was...anticlimactic."

Alex barely restrained herself from glaring at the man and instead settled for glaring at the gun. It wasn't as though she had used one before.

"The safety's on doll face."

Oooh, well that made sense. Wasn't that the number one mistake in movies? She located the little switch on the side and flipped it, repeating her steps of aiming and closing her eyes.

*click*

"Not that _bright_ are we?" Joker sighed in what seemed like disappointment. "You have to pull back the hammer."

It was on the tip of her tongue to snap and tell him to shoot the cuffs if he was such a professional but she thought better of it. He was likely to just shoot her instead and it was a miracle that she was still alive at this point. She desperately wondered why he was helping her but tried to shake the thought from her mind; now was not the time and she was pretty sure she didn't _want_ to know. With the safety flipped and the hammer pulled back she braced the gun the lock on her left hand.

*BANG!*

The noise was so brutally loud in the small room that she almost dropped the gun. But the noise was nothing compared to the pain! The locks were thick to be sure, but holy hell! She took a look at her free wrist, wincing at the raw red burn. Who knew? The Joker was laughing wildly and Sandoval was sniggering.

"You," the Joker snorted, interrupting himself. "You got one more to go sharp shooter." He continued laughing pausing only to raise an eyebrow when she finally slipped up and glared at him.

She caught her glare too late, only realizing what she was doing by his raised eyebrow. Crap. All that effort not to antagonize him undone. Perfect. Ignoring the fact that she might have just signed her death warrant she switched hands and clumsily aimed at the other lock.

*BANG!*

"WATCH IT!" Sandoval roared, jumping as the bullet pierced the ground by his feet.

Well, she could care less what she said to this man at this point. "It's not like you handed out invitations for a dungeon party at your place you know. You had your little imps knock me out and drag me here so keep your mouth shut. Im horrible at this and you're lucky you're not shot already." Alex mumbled the last sentence as she took aim again, trying not to shake too badly.

*BANG!*

That would never ever hurt less but the cuffs dropped to the floor from her wrists and for a moment she felt like dropping with them. One battle won. "I'd like my knife back please." She said in a shockingly sure voice as she looked at Sandoval. His lip curled but before he could say anything she cocked the gun and aimed it, however unsteadily, at him. With a mighty sneer he slid it across the floor hard enough to hit her shoe.

As she knelt to pick it up, her eyes trained on Sandoval Joker spoke again. "Out of curiosity, why didn't you just ask for the keys?"

Alexa blushed furiously. She hadn't even thought of that. Of all the simple minded stupid things she could have done! She not only gave both of these men prime seats to witness to her extreme idiocy, she had injured herself in the process. "Must of slipped my mind." She mumbled backing quickly out of the room.

. . . .

Joker eyed the girl, Alexa, as she struggled to hold the gun steady and back out of the room. His eyebrows shot up when the gun she had been holding flew through the door.

*BANG!*

The gun landed hard and let off a round sending Sandoval squealing and jumping about the room like the pig he was. A choked laugh came from the doorway and then it was silent. Hmmmm... There may be finally be something interesting in Gotham. Well, interesting since the bat left that is... He shook his head. Plenty of time later, right now he had some business; like getting a man to think he had the upper hand just to watch that last spark of hope to die out before he killed him. It was going to be such a fun day.

"Soo Sandoval, you want some crates I hear?"...

. . . .

**A/N~ Wow! Sorry this took some time to get out! Remember your reviews motivate me! Let me know what you think-like it, love it, loathe entirely? Let me know! I really don't have too steady of a direction for this story just some vague scenes and ideas so let me know if you have anything you'd like to see or any input at all! Someone brought up the question "Were is Batman?" I tend to think that with a city with no innocents Batman wouldn't really be needed- I mean who is he trying to save in a place full of hardened criminals? NOW, that being said with my O/C running around Gotham, who knows? There may be a possibility that I might bring him into this story. Also- this is fan-fiction! No! I am not trying to make everything true to form in either the comic or movie verse! If you hate it-fine! Let me know why and I will see whether or not its something I want to change or work on! And if you like it-let me know! It really makes my day! And now my long winded note is done! Thanks for reading :).**

**~OhSoOriginal**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N~ Big giant thanks to everyone who has read, reviewed, followed and favorited! I can't thank you all enough! Special thanks to Bleedingheart2XLoLa, LeopardFan92, 24-7Fanfictioner, and Valkyrie69! Your guys' reviews give me motivation to keep going!**

**~OhSoOriginal**

Scavenging was not what she had thought it would be. Indeed, watching post-apocalyptic zombie movies had made it look rather... easy- minus the zombies of course. But here...here there were living people to worry about. People that would as soon shoot or stab you than ask your name. It made her wonder what the "citizens" of Gotham had been before they had come here...what the Joker had been before he had become the Joker. What Sandoval had been before this mess he now called life. When the torture and eventual murder of a young woman who didn't posses the knowledge he wanted didn't bother him. Along the same vein, who was the Joker now? Why had he helped her? Why had he let her go? There were no answers to these questions-only a startling amount of guesses.

She hated this place, she really did...but she also welcomed it. It had been two weeks since her encounter with Sandoval and the Joker. Two weeks of struggling to find a place to sleep that wouldn't explode or lead to rape. Two weeks of going day to day on food. Two weeks of wondering if she was going as mad as the rest of the cities inhabitants. She thought she may have been crazy even before she came here though... After all, who sneaks aboard a prisoner transport? Who laughs when a mans life has been ended? When some asshole jumps at the sound of a shooting gun? But it had also been two weeks of brutal honesty. None of the people here gave off delusions that they were your friend. It was virtually living with the laws of the jungle-eat or be eaten, kill or be killed. Not that she had killed anybody of course. That...that was a line that she was determined not to cross. She would not become like them. She was positive that no matter the situation, there would always be another way.

Raucous laughter filled the air and Alexa gave a start, crouching behind the front counter in the small convenience store. She had thought this place was a diamond in the rough- still intact and a small stash of unbothered supplies. Peeking above the counter she huffed out an almost exasperated sigh as the Jokers signature suit came into view; at least now she knew why this place had looked so decent...apparently it was one of his haunts. She cringed as she heard his nasally voice begin talking in what seemed to be a conversational tone.

"Ya know Jason, I was your age when I got these scars...you uhhh wanna know what happened?" Joker sneered as he leaned into a fallen figures face.

As the Joker stood tapping his chin in mock disappointment with a knife Alex clapped her hands over her mouth in shock- huddled on the floor was a young boy who couldn't have been more than twelve. How on earth had a child that young gotten here?

"No?" Joker sighed shaking his head as the boy kept silent, looking up at him in terror. "That's...no fun kid...none at all."

She watched in horror as the Joker pulled a gun from the inside of his jacket and before anyone in the room had time to so much as blink he had fired a shot in the direction of the boy. The child yelped and jerked backwards, trembling more than ever. She stared in shock at the smoking bullet hole in the floor, inches from where his arms were. Was he really going to hurt this defenseless little boy? As soon as the thought popped into her head she momentarily considered jumping off of the tallest building she could find for her stupidity. _Of course_ the Joker who had once pitted a ferry full of prisoners against a ferry full of men, women, and children would have no problem offing one measly child. The better, more pertinent question would be to ask if she was ready to sit back and hide to save her own behind as a child was more than likely brutally murdered? Sick laughter filled the air as the boy let out a shriek of pain and something small thudded over the counter.

"Please! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" The boy sobbed in hysterics.

Alexa could hear the Joker click his tongue. "Jason, Jason, Jason. You stole from me kid...and uhhh, you got caught. Besides," he cackled. "It was just your pinkie! You won't even miss it by the time we're done!"

She stared in terror at the small thing that had landed by her foot. Slowly, ever so slowly, afraid that it was going to be what she thought it was, she nudged it into the light. As a small pinkie finger, severed almost neatly, rolled into a sliver of light the room began to spin and she fought the urge to throw up. _Oh god oh god oh god. _The boys screams and pleas for mercy permeated the dizzying fog that was beginning to surround her. This had to stop!

"Eeny..., meeny..., miny..., ...moe!" The Joker taunted jovially as the boy began screaming and sobbing anew.

She couldn't take it! This was disgusting! Her heart felt like it was being twisted and simultaneously gnashed to a pulp and a roiling knot deep in her gut was threatening to make her sick. Not sick with revulsion, although she felt plenty of that, but sick with an absolute trembling fury. What was wrong with this man? How didn't this send him into a spiral of self hate? How on earth did he manage to live with himself for even seconds with the knowledge that he was a killer? Not just a killer but a murderer of children? Rage was blinding her to everything but the shivering crying child and the pathetic excuse for a man standing over him.

"STOP IT!" She shrieked, throwing herself over the counter, and launching herself at the Joker. She saw the grin on his face much too late as she barreled her shoulder into his midsection, latching a hand around his wrist trying to relieve him of his knife. _That's it. I am the poster child for bad decisions._

Aside from a small, barely audible 'Oomph' the Joker gave no indication that she had even managed to hit him. In a whirlwind of time honed movement she found herself with her right arm bent at a painful angle behind her back with her wrist clenched in a bruisingly tight grip. His forearm pressed hard against her neck as he clenched his knife tightly, pulling her close against his body.

Hot breath puffed into her ear. "And here I thought you had some sort of survival instinct Ah-_lex_-ah." He almost purred, heavily annunciating the midsection of her name.

Bile rose in her throat and she fought off a gag from his putrid breath. "You're sick." She spat in a shaky voice barely above a whisper. Whatever breath she had managed to keep in her lungs was knocked out in mere seconds as he spun her rapidly and slammed her back into a wall.

"Be that as it maaay... _I'm_ not the one who waited until a finger flew my way before I decided to do something." The Jokers mouth formed a sick grin as he watched comprehension dawn.

"You knew I was there." It was not a question.

He giggled wildly. "I _knew_ you'd be fun!"

Alexa's mind was a mass of confusion. Why? Why was he toying with her? Had he been following her? She had a hard time believing that she was so incredibly unaware of her surroundings that she hadn't noticed an unusually tall, lanky man in clown makeup following her around the Narrows. And why would he have hurt a child? Unless... She chanced a quick look at the boy- no, he definitely wasn't faking. Bile rose in her throat once more as the sickly tang of blood hit her nostrils.

"Why?" Her voice came out much sterner than she would have thought given the circumstances.

His eyes seemed to brighten. "I knew you'd be fun." He repeated simply.

"Fun." She repeated back in disbelief. "You tortured a child-because you thought my reaction would be fun."

"And you! You didn't disappoint did you!" Joker giggled as if only he were privy to some amusing joke. "I mean, BAM!" He shouted excitedly slamming his purple gloves fist into the wall by her head to accentuate. She flinched and he ignored her, continuing his almost fevered monologue. "Pull on some heartstrings and we got ourselves a ready made martyr hero! Too bad you're not much of a fighter though..."

His voice trailed off and the glee in his voice dissipated into a near thoughtful tone. A slow shuffling movement from the boy on the floor caught her eye and she fought not to clap her hands in glee as she saw the child inching toward the door. No, she wasn't much of a physical fighter but she had succeeded nonetheless- the boy was going to get out of here. Well...at least as long as none of the Jokers goons noticed him... As if on cue one of the men spoke.

"Boss..." The mans voice was almost hesitant, as if he were afraid that interrupting the Jokers train of thought was going to incur his wrath.

A gun appeared out of seemingly nowhere taking residence in the Jokers hand and he whirled around snarling "What?"

Without giving herself time to think about the consequences she yanked his arm harshly. She was sure it was just surprise that had him complying but in the moment couldn't bring herself to care as she braced herself and kneed him as hard as she dared in the groin. It was comical in a way, all the emotions that ranged across his face in a matter of seconds. That was until she felt the barrel of the gun pressed hard into her ribcage.

"Now _that_ was stupid, doll." The Joker growled. "Any last words? No?" He mocked her. "No-uh- _profound_ words of wisdom?"

Alex looked up at the man, terrified. She was going to die. She let her eyes dart behind him and almost growled when she saw that the boy had frozen (along with all of the Jokers men) at her rather rash distraction. Dammit! She might have had a chance at living if it wasn't for kneeing him and to top it off the dumb child hadn't even escaped! She almost felt like shooting him herself-almost. The Joker started to turn slightly (to see what had distracted her from her imminent death no doubt) and she swore under her breath. One last go at this then.

"Yeah," she snapped, grabbing the lapels of his purple jacket and jerking him down face to face with her. Once again she was positive that it was only shock that had him complying. She had one last word alright.

His black rimmed eyes widened slightly before a grin snuck onto his face, and his tongue snaked out to probe his scars before inquiring "And those would be?"

Alex looked past him directly at the boy. "Run!" She snapped her voice almost at a shout. The now tell tale click of the hammer on the gun sounded and filled her with panic as the child finally started to scramble out of the shop. Looking back she was fairly certain that there had indeed been some sort of thought process going on here but for the life of her she couldn't figure out what. All she knew was that one second she had felt absolute blinding terror well up inside of her and the next thing she knew was a harsh mashing of lips and teeth. It couldn't really be called a kiss at this point she reassured herself and indeed it wasn't, at least to her. This was anger, frustration, dread, and fear being expelled onto the main cause of said emotions. She hated this monster with every fiber of her being. No, her actions and reasoning didn't make any sense whatsoever but then she supposed that people who were about to die rarely made sense anyway. And then something changed, well, really quite a few things. The Joker was no longer holding himself stiff, a frozen and unwilling participant. Now it was she who froze as a large hand ran up and down her ribcage before gripping her waist hard and another hand tangled in the hair at her nape. No doubt, the kiss was still harsh and unforgiving but now he was in control of it.

More frustration and anger welled up inside of her. "What is wrong with you!" She shouted breaking the kiss and shoving at his chest. To her surprise he let her go rather easily. Shocking her further he began to laugh- not just your run of the mill fake tiny laugh, no. This was a whole body laugh as if something truly hysterical had just happened and he was going to wet his pants from the immense hilarity of it all.

He slapped his leg hard while his other hand gripped across his stomach as if he were in pain from the laughter. "You... you had me going there... but- nope! You _are_ fun!" He still giggled slightly bouncing on the balls of his feet, but straightened his posture to give a full blown smirk aimed at her lips.

She frowned, resisting the urge to stomp her feet as his smirk widened. What was _wrong_ with this man? She flinched and wrinkled her nose as he stalked towards her and swung an arm heavily around her shoulders. He smelled...oddly...good in a way. Like a worker. Not like some nancy business mans cologne or some preppy college student, but like a man who worked with his hands... Of course he did she thought bitterly. Work like maiming children and murdering everyone around him. What was wrong with her? Sitting in a madman's grip complacently thinking about the nuances of the way he smelled? The dizzying fog of surviving faded and left her with such intense disgust at herself she could feel her lips curl.

"What?" She bit out as she finally noticed the Joker peering down sideways at her.

"You uhh...gotta little something..." He said looking ahead straight faced as he motioned around his mouth.

_What?_ Alex looked at the messy makeup around his mouth for a few seconds before it hit her. Her hands flew up to her face wiping as much of the transferred paint off as possible, scowling as she saw his lips and scars twitch with a grin. Jerk. Its not like his entire face wasn't covered in greasepaint. Why should he get to laugh when just part of hers was?

"_Any_way..." The Jokers voice startled her out of her internal tirade at him. He whirled her around with a tight grip on her shoulder to face the men that were in the room with them. "Before all of the..._distractions_, we were discussing your ummm, _lack_ of ability to fight... And win of course." He shot her another smirk and she scowled at the floor as the men snickered. "So, uhhh...," he spun, taking her with him almost knocking her to the floor in the process as he addressed a still sniggering man nearest to them. The man seemed not to realize he was being called on though and continued chuckling and she flinched at the look he was receiving from the Joker. "What is your name?" He snapped out.

The man finally seemed to realize he was in trouble. "D-Dave sir." He stuttered out giving a small hopeful smile. As if that would help him.

"Well, D-Dave," the Joker mocked, tapping his chin with his gun. "Why don't you just go on and fetch Jonah for me. Unfinished work and all, ya know?"

Whatever blood had been in Dave's face drained and he looked positively dizzy as his eyes darted back and forth between the Joker and her. "I-I-he- when she- I-I mean-"

She flinched as the Joker licked his lips and lowered them to her ear. "See doll face, he let the..._prisoner_," he snickered here as if this situation were funny and she wanted to scream. "go! So there's gotta be some...retribution...ya know?"

She really didn't like where this was heading. A quick smack to her face had her blinking up at the Joker dazedly. "I asked you a question Alexa... It's... rude not to answer."

She shook her head as her eyes darted towards the terrified man. "N-no."

"No?" He questioned back his eyes widened in mock surprise.

"No."

"Well! Did you hear that Dave?" He turned to grin at the man. "Todays your lucky day! I guess I won't be the last thing you see before you eat a bullet after all!"

Dave's face lit up with hope and she felt sick to her stomach. There was no way was this going to end without, as the Joker put it, retribution. He was toying with the man, with all of them-including her. "Stop it." She whispered.

The Joker laughed. "Stop what? Here doll, I'll even give you my gun!" She stared in shock as he slapped the metal down into her hands. Her brain began whirring, trying to figure out what he was playing at. "See! I'm a man of my word dollface, isn't that right Dave?"

Dave nodded his head jerkily. "Yeah, yeah he is. Thanks-thanks boss. I-I promise I-"

He was cut short as the Joker stepped behind her, wrapped his hands around hers on the gun, quickly aimed and forced her finger on the trigger. "STOP!" She screamed attempting to jerk away and staring at the man who was now staring back at her petrified. She screamed so loudly she didn't even hear the gunshot. Nothing made sense right now. Nothing was right in her head. She stared at the oddly clean hole through Dave's head as he slumped to the floor, and then at the thin flow of crimson leaking through. This couldn't have happened. This wasn't real it had to just be a horrible dream. Voices hit her ears in a garbled mess and the coppery tang of the blood hit her nostrils again tenfold. "Oh god."

She heard a low chuckle in her ear and felt the Jokers chest rumble against her back. "No god here kiddo. Here there's just me."

She felt her hair sticking to the paint on his face as he straightened up leaving her literally with the smoking gun. "I'm going to be sick." She muttered halfheartedly, attempting to spin around and gag.

Gloved fingers caught her chin roughly. "Not in here you're not."

"Why?" She whimpered pathetically.

"Because it smells." He answered in a voice that should have been reserved for a child.

She couldn't find it in her to rise to the bait. "No. Why?" She stressed looking at the gun in her hand.

"You owe me."

"What?"

"You. Owe. Me." He stressed once again using his addressing an idiot voice. "You see, you let little Jonah go. Overall **_you_** are responsible. _But_-my men didn't do their job very efficiently. I have no use for inefficient men. Sooo..." He clapped her on the shoulder and her knees threatened to buckle. "Get to it."

What? He couldn't mean for her to kill all of his men. Retraction- even if he did mean for her to she wouldn't. "No."

"You're _really_ beginning to piss me off doll." He growled leveling her with an icy glare.

She said nothing and stared back at him. It wasn't even as though she were being defiant; she just would not kill a man. The man on the floor, Dave, that had been forced. There was not a chance that she would willingly shoot and kill a man, especially not for some lunatic. In a flash the Joker growled loudly and snatched the gun from her hands firing rapidly around the shop and muttering angrily to himself as body after body fell.

"You best run little girl." He snarled down at her. "You're starting to lose your _fun_."

She didn't need to be told twice. Alex scrambled to her feet but before she had taken more than a couple of steps white hot searing pain shot through her left then right shoulder. She grunted a small scream and stumbled to her knees, trying to hold back a sound that would break glass she was sure. The Jokers laughter filled the air as she looked over one shoulder to find a knife protruding from just above her armpit.

He stepped past her still cackling. "I expect those back doll face, so some uhh..._friendly_ advice- don't lose them." The door jingled signaling his leave as he called in one last time. "And clean them up! If they come back dirty I'll give them a... bath...in you."

His mad laughter faded slowly as she lay curled up on her knees. This had to be hell. Grasping the edge of her shirt she slowly ripped a chunk off and placed it in her mouth. Carefully she reached around and jerked the knife out of her shoulder. Tears streamed down her face and she keened loudly into the shirt, grinding her teeth on it painfully. The knife clattered to the floor and the sound echoed loudly as she looked up to the ceiling, attempting to build the nerve to pull the other one out as well. What was with all of the wiring all over the ceiling? How...shoddy looking. It couldn't have looked like that in Gotham's prime could it? An odd niggling was pushing in the back of her mind and she struggled to hold onto it. Gunther. Gunther had said something. Something about buildings... That was it! Buildings! They either belonged to a boss or...or... Shit. She was on her feet in an instant ignoring the pain as best she could she grabbed the knife off of the floor and ran. Block after block after block she ran until it seemed like all of her running had been for nothing. Then suddenly the ground shook and along with an immense BOOM, flames shot up into the sky. Pieces of debris, flaming mortar, and chunks of brick rained down around her as she ducked into a vaguely familiar doorway.

"God dammit girl, ya don't listen for shit, do ya." An exasperated grunt came from behind her causing her to jump.

A smile floated across her lips as the world began to take on a murky quality. "Hello there." She whispered with a delirious giggle.


End file.
